In a world devoid of explicit instructions, the player of Minecraft must be willing to explore the environment in order to understand what can and cannot be done. The player has to figure out the world of Minecraft and create a context in which meaning can be made. Once the context exists, as some form of groundwork, the player continues to work with this groundwork, further expanding upon it and forming new ideas about how the environment functions. James Paul Gee came up with the Probe, Hypothesize, Reprobe, Rethink Cycle which hinges on the player becoming a “self-teacher” and navigating the unknown world to make important and necessary patterns that can be useful in the future and be modified as well. The player’s user identity must be an explorer, open-minded, curious, and adaptable, especially in a world like Minecraft because the player is at the mercy of an endless landscape containing limitless capabilities. The “self-teacher” has to form ideas, test them, and formulate the pattern. Minecraft implements Gee’s Cycle and encourages the player to spin around the cycle many, many times to produce more meaning about the world of Minecraft.
Understanding the Cycle:
The Probe, Hypothesize, Reprobe, Rethink Cycle outlines the four steps a good video game allows the player to go through. Gee states that a good video game is one in which “you have to try lots of different things and then you have to think about the results you get” (88). Minecraft requires the player to try many things because there are no explicit directions. According to page 88 of Gee’s book, The Cycle is as follows:
1. The player must probe the virtual world (which involves looking around the current environment, clicking on something, or engaging in a certain action). 2. Based on reflection during and after probing, the player must form a hypothesis about what something (a text, object, artifact, event, or action) might mean in a usefully situated way. 3. The player reprobes the world with that hypothesis in mind, seeing effect he or she gets. 4. The player treats this effect as feedback from the world and accepts or rethinks his or her original hypothesis.
The Craft Table: What can I create? How do I create it? What can it do? WHAT CAN I DO?
Step 1: When you first enter the Minecraft (Survival Mode) you spawn in a wooded area, The player can take note of all the trees and various forms of nature around. Each surrounding element is broken up into cubes that form the larger entity. The player must probe the world around him or her to understand how it works. Some would say that this probing is in an attempt to figure out the structure of the game and formulate a gist of the game’s mechanics. Gee states that the “human mind is a powerful pattern recognizer” (88) and by surveying the landscape, the player is able to create the groundwork for further patterns. After some initial exploration, the player will understand how the world can be broken down into smaller cubes, which can be collected and stored in “Inventory.” Armed with your hand, at first, hitting the blocks around you will allow you to build up your inventory. Moving around the terrain will expose you to more material that can be collected. The probing step is crucial for creating the groundwork of your gaming experience, but explore quickly--otherwise you will unprepared for the creatures of the night. This step is also simple because it is simply exploration. Discovery is important, but it is more important in later steps, especially in relation to creating and building objects. The player has successfully completed this step when he or she has looked around and engaged with the current environment, which should have prompted some questions about what can be done to the environment.
A sample of the icons used to represent different "Achievements" the player can reach in Survival Mode.
Step 2: The first hypothesis one has is: what can I break with my hand? The initial test is to gather wood and to figure out how to use it. Although the game does not have directions, it does have “Achievements” that form a guide. The various achievement also prompt the formation of hypotheses because the language is often vague, leaving the player to explore the environment and the capabilities of the crafting section. Forming the hypothesis relies on the player engaging in “reflective practice,” a term used by Gee to describe how the player learns and tests the game world. A player can only form a testable hypothesis if they reflect on previous gameplay and then make a logical assumption about what can happen given what he or she knows about the environment thus far. As game play increases, the hypotheses will become more elaborate since the environment has changed and the recognizable patterns have increased in number. Testing recognizable patterns within the game is fairly easy within the crafting section due to the creation of materials relying on a set pattern of combining and organizing material in the crafting boxes correctly. For example, one piece of wood yields 4 planks which also yields 8 sticks (when two planks are placed vertically). Testing in the world of Minecraft is a complex combination of engaging with text (icons, symbols), objects, action, and events. As the inventory increases and the achievements continue to ask for complex creations, the player must embrace his or her “self-teacher” and learn more patterns that will benefit the player.
Screenshot of the Inventory section and the Crafting Table. The player has created the stone pickaxe, among many of the possible creations the player can test out in the Crafting Table.
Step 3: With the hypothesis in mind, the player is ready to reprobe the environment and learn from the outcome. The reprobing can occur when the player tries different configurations in the crafting boxes or on the crafting table (four wood planks), uses different weapons on the environment and against enemies, and attempts to build shelter. The reprobing step is important because it involves two types of reflection: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action (89). These two factors are seen in step 2 as well, but reprobing involves examining the effect the player has on the environment and learning from that interaction which is more related to step 3. The player acts upon the world, reacts to the world, and learns from the world, recognizing which patterns have a significant and/or important impact on the environment of Minecraft. The player thinks a particular pattern will work and produce the desired effect. For example, a wooden axe is a formidable weapon against enemies; however, the stone pickaxe is more effective and the iron pickaxe even more so. So, the player recognizes the pattern of two sticks placed vertically and three pieces of material placed horizontally on top of the two sticks. The player uses this knowledge of a working pattern and swaps material to form between a more formidable weapon. Depending on the desired effect, the player can use any and each of the configurations to continue succeeding in the game.
Sample of the different weapons that can be created using recognizable patterns.
Step 4: The player must reflect on the outcome and decide if it is acceptable or if it needs some rethinking. This final step continues the cycle since it never does end, in any good video game at least. The player learns from the outcomes and decides the next step in his or her pursuit of understanding the Minecraft world more. The Minecraft world tends to act like the real world in that the possibilities never end and the outcomes can always be altered. Gee draws similarities between the video game world and the real world based on the application of the the four step cycle. When the player goes through the cycle, the player becomes a better, engaged learner and a more efficient “self-teacher.” The player continues around the cycle and constantly re-evaluates the world and reworks the recognizable patterns.
The Probe, Hypothesize, Reprobe, Rethink Cycle is a fundamental device that determines the success of a game. Whether in Creative or Survival mode, the player had to explore the environment and learn from the tests and outcomes. The cycle is a never-ending cycle of learning and engagement. The mind wants to learn more about the environment and the player wants to know more about his- or herself. Those who are naturally curious and adaptable do well traveling with the steps of the cycle and living in the world of Minecraft. The patterns the player recognizes in the game, the easier progress becomes. The patterns of crafting, building, and collecting are forever changing and being reshaped by new experiences encountered in the game. Each turn around the cycle educates the player. Reflective learning are reflective practice are necessary factors for a video game and for life. The “self-teacher” must be able to experience, test, apply, and learn in the world, simulated or not. The learner must grow as a player and reflective practitioner. Gee writes, “our experiences in the world build patterns in our mind, and then the mind shapes our experience of the world (and the actions we take in it), which, in turn, reshape our minds” (91) and it is this configuring, testing, and reconfiguring of recognizable patterns that determines a successful player/learner over a not so successful one.
The Probe, Hypothesize, Reprobe, Rethink Cycle
Introduction:
In a world devoid of explicit instructions, the player of Minecraft must be willing to explore the environment in order to understand what can and cannot be done. The player has to figure out the world of Minecraft and create a context in which meaning can be made. Once the context exists, as some form of groundwork, the player continues to work with this groundwork, further expanding upon it and forming new ideas about how the environment functions. James Paul Gee came up with the Probe, Hypothesize, Reprobe, Rethink Cycle which hinges on the player becoming a “self-teacher” and navigating the unknown world to make important and necessary patterns that can be useful in the future and be modified as well. The player’s user identity must be an explorer, open-minded, curious, and adaptable, especially in a world like Minecraft because the player is at the mercy of an endless landscape containing limitless capabilities. The “self-teacher” has to form ideas, test them, and formulate the pattern. Minecraft implements Gee’s Cycle and encourages the player to spin around the cycle many, many times to produce more meaning about the world of Minecraft.
Understanding the Cycle:
The Probe, Hypothesize, Reprobe, Rethink Cycle outlines the four steps a good video game allows the player to go through. Gee states that a good video game is one in which “you have to try lots of different things and then you have to think about the results you get” (88). Minecraft requires the player to try many things because there are no explicit directions. According to page 88 of Gee’s book, The Cycle is as follows:
1. The player must probe the virtual world (which involves looking around the current environment, clicking on something, or engaging in a certain action).
2. Based on reflection during and after probing, the player must form a hypothesis about what something (a text, object, artifact, event, or action) might mean in a usefully situated way.
3. The player reprobes the world with that hypothesis in mind, seeing effect he or she gets.
4. The player treats this effect as feedback from the world and accepts or rethinks his or her original hypothesis.
Step 1: When you first enter the Minecraft (Survival Mode) you spawn in a wooded area, The player can take note of all the trees and various forms of nature around. Each surrounding element is broken up into cubes that form the larger entity. The player must probe the world around him or her to understand how it works. Some would say that this probing is in an attempt to figure out the structure of the game and formulate a gist of the game’s mechanics. Gee states that the “human mind is a powerful pattern recognizer” (88) and by surveying the landscape, the player is able to create the groundwork for further patterns. After some initial exploration, the player will understand how the world can be broken down into smaller cubes, which can be collected and stored in “Inventory.” Armed with your hand, at first, hitting the blocks around you will allow you to build up your inventory. Moving around the terrain will expose you to more material that can be collected. The probing step is crucial for creating the groundwork of your gaming experience, but explore quickly--otherwise you will unprepared for the creatures of the night. This step is also simple because it is simply exploration. Discovery is important, but it is more important in later steps, especially in relation to creating and building objects. The player has successfully completed this step when he or she has looked around and engaged with the current environment, which should have prompted some questions about what can be done to the environment.
Step 2: The first hypothesis one has is: what can I break with my hand? The initial test is to gather wood and to figure out how to use it. Although the game does not have directions, it does have “Achievements” that form a guide. The various achievement also prompt the formation of hypotheses because the language is often vague, leaving the player to explore the environment and the capabilities of the crafting section. Forming the hypothesis relies on the player engaging in “reflective practice,” a term used by Gee to describe how the player learns and tests the game world. A player can only form a testable hypothesis if they reflect on previous gameplay and then make a logical assumption about what can happen given what he or she knows about the environment thus far. As game play increases, the hypotheses will become more elaborate since the environment has changed and the recognizable patterns have increased in number. Testing recognizable patterns within the game is fairly easy within the crafting section due to the creation of materials relying on a set pattern of combining and organizing material in the crafting boxes correctly. For example, one piece of wood yields 4 planks which also yields 8 sticks (when two planks are placed vertically). Testing in the world of Minecraft is a complex combination of engaging with text (icons, symbols), objects, action, and events. As the inventory increases and the achievements continue to ask for complex creations, the player must embrace his or her “self-teacher” and learn more patterns that will benefit the player.
Step 3: With the hypothesis in mind, the player is ready to reprobe the environment and learn from the outcome. The reprobing can occur when the player tries different configurations in the crafting boxes or on the crafting table (four wood planks), uses different weapons on the environment and against enemies, and attempts to build shelter. The reprobing step is important because it involves two types of reflection: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action (89). These two factors are seen in step 2 as well, but reprobing involves examining the effect the player has on the environment and learning from that interaction which is more related to step 3. The player acts upon the world, reacts to the world, and learns from the world, recognizing which patterns have a significant and/or important impact on the environment of Minecraft. The player thinks a particular pattern will work and produce the desired effect. For example, a wooden axe is a formidable weapon against enemies; however, the stone pickaxe is more effective and the iron pickaxe even more so. So, the player recognizes the pattern of two sticks placed vertically and three pieces of material placed horizontally on top of the two sticks. The player uses this knowledge of a working pattern and swaps material to form between a more formidable weapon. Depending on the desired effect, the player can use any and each of the configurations to continue succeeding in the game.
Step 4: The player must reflect on the outcome and decide if it is acceptable or if it needs some rethinking. This final step continues the cycle since it never does end, in any good video game at least. The player learns from the outcomes and decides the next step in his or her pursuit of understanding the Minecraft world more. The Minecraft world tends to act like the real world in that the possibilities never end and the outcomes can always be altered. Gee draws similarities between the video game world and the real world based on the application of the the four step cycle. When the player goes through the cycle, the player becomes a better, engaged learner and a more efficient “self-teacher.” The player continues around the cycle and constantly re-evaluates the world and reworks the recognizable patterns.
The Probe, Hypothesize, Reprobe, Rethink Cycle is a fundamental device that determines the success of a game. Whether in Creative or Survival mode, the player had to explore the environment and learn from the tests and outcomes. The cycle is a never-ending cycle of learning and engagement. The mind wants to learn more about the environment and the player wants to know more about his- or herself. Those who are naturally curious and adaptable do well traveling with the steps of the cycle and living in the world of Minecraft. The patterns the player recognizes in the game, the easier progress becomes. The patterns of crafting, building, and collecting are forever changing and being reshaped by new experiences encountered in the game. Each turn around the cycle educates the player. Reflective learning are reflective practice are necessary factors for a video game and for life. The “self-teacher” must be able to experience, test, apply, and learn in the world, simulated or not. The learner must grow as a player and reflective practitioner. Gee writes, “our experiences in the world build patterns in our mind, and then the mind shapes our experience of the world (and the actions we take in it), which, in turn, reshape our minds” (91) and it is this configuring, testing, and reconfiguring of recognizable patterns that determines a successful player/learner over a not so successful one.
Sources:
Gee, James Paul. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.